


hit the back

by uselessenterprise



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Acts of Kindness, Drabble, Friendship, Gen, Haircuts, Not Beta Read, Pre-Femslash, Romantic if you squint, desertrose
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-03
Updated: 2020-02-03
Packaged: 2021-02-28 03:54:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 802
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22537336
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/uselessenterprise/pseuds/uselessenterprise
Summary: A quiet moment at the Resistance base: Rose needs some assistance. Rey helps.
Relationships: Rey & Rose Tico, Rey/Rose Tico
Comments: 4
Kudos: 6





	hit the back

After barely escaping the battle of Crait with their lives, Rey and the other remaining members of the Resistance had fled as far as they could into Wild Space, aiming to rebuild what was left of their rebellion. It was a few months into her time with the Resistance on a remote jungle planet that Rey walked in on Rose in the women’s barracks bathroom while getting ready for bed one night.

Rose was pressed up close to one of the dirty mirrors, carefully using a pair of old scissors to cut her locks into the choppy style that she favoured. When Rey entered the room, Rose turned to face her, and Rey realized with a shock that there were tears flowing down her friend’s cheeks.

"I'm– I'm sorry, I didn't realize–" Rey stammered.

"It's okay," Rose said, putting down the scissors before clumsily wiping at the tears on her cheeks. Then she surprised Rey by laughing, a hiccup-y sound that was somehow both sad and happy at the same time. "I got frustrated because I've never cut my hair by myself before, and it's really hard to see what I'm doing in the back. Paige used to do it for me," she added, smiling sadly.

"Oh," Rey said, even more unsure of how to respond to the situation than before. But a fluttering feeling in her stomach prompted her to say, "I could do it for you, if you like?"

An almost stunned expression flitted across Rose's face, followed immediately by gratitude. Rey felt the other woman's Force signature glow briefly with happiness.

"Would you really? That would be so helpful!" Rose gushed, sadness replaced with joy.

"Of course," Rey smiled, picking up the scissors from their place by the sink. "I should warn you though, I've never done this before."

Rose giggled. "That's okay. I trust you." She squeezed the hand of Rey's that wasn't holding the scissors briefly, then turned back towards the mirror, facing her reflection. Rey was momentarily stunned by how openly Rose gave her trust, her affection. But she quickly returned to herself and began to slowly and methodically cut away at Rose's locks.

It was oddly intimate, the bathroom silent except for the twin sounds of their breathing and the quiet /snip/ of scissors. By the time Rey was done, the floor around them was dotted with a thin layer of black hair. Rey swallowed and stepped backwards, giving Rose's hair one last appraising look.

"Okay, all done now, I think."

Rose turned her head back and forth, trying to get a good look.

"Oh, I love it! And the back?"

As much as she tried, Rey couldn't help but crack up when she saw Rose twisting her neck at an unnatural angle trying to see the back of her head.

"Rose, stop, you'll break your neck," she laughed. "I have an idea. Let me show you?" She nudged gently at Rose's awareness with the Force, hoping the other woman would sense her intentions.

"Oh," Rose squeaked. "Is this one of those… Jedi mind things?"

"Yes," Rey smiled. "But it's not intrusive, I promise. I'm just going to project the image of the back of your head so that you can see it."

"I wonder what Luke would say if he could see you using your Jedi powers for this," Rose joked, and Rey smirked. Rose reached her hand out and took one of Rey's again, squeezing it and nodding in silent permission.

Rey gently pushed the image of Rose’s haircut as she had seen it from the back into Rose's consciousness. As she withdrew from Rose’s mind, she realized that some of her emotions had slipped through too, unbidden; her admiration at Rose's strength after losing her sister, her awe at how freely she had given Rey her trust, the joy Rey felt when she thought of how happy Rose made Finn. The thought that Rose was beautiful, inside and out.

Rose suddenly threw her arms around Rey, clutching her tight. "Thank you," she whispered, hugging Rey with a ferocity and strength that rivalled even Chewie's. "You're a good friend, Rey." Rey blinked back her surprise, arms coming up slowly to encircle Rose as she rested her head on Rey's shoulder.

"You too," she said thickly. Rose gave her one last squeeze before pulling away.

"Well, I should probably be off to bed," Rose smiled, gathering up the scissors and heading towards the bathroom door.

"Me too," Rey responded, but she didn’t move. Rose brushed past her, but stopped just before leaving the bathroom.

"For what it's worth, Rey… You're beautiful, too." Rose gave her one last shy smile and then ducked out of the room.

It wasn't until much, much later that night that Rey realized no-one had ever called her beautiful before.

**Author's Note:**

> Title from the King Princess song, because gay.  
> \-----  
> skjhsfds okay SO I have tons of WIPs for a bunch of different fandoms in my Google Drive but I literally never finish anything I start writing. This was originally gonna be a scene in another SW fic I was working on, but the more I wrote it, the more it didn't fit, so I decided to just publish it separately. That makes this technically the first fic I've ever finished + published (at least since the cringey bandfics I wrote in the 2010s). For that reason, I know it's probably not the best (& shorter than most fics!) but I just had to get it out of my system and finally publish it, otherwise it'd sit in editing hell forever.
> 
> Comments of any kind are very much appreciated!!!


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